Discovery, and back on the leash

The other morning I went out, as I always do, to take the dogs to their equine buddy. Three little tri-colored stubby dogs, tongues flapping with happiness as they run to the barn. This day, however, they didn't stop at the gate, but ran around the barn and down the outside of the fence line. When they stopped they refused to even acknowledge that I was calling them. All three. Rather than wade through the leaves and weeds, I went into the field to get a glimpse at what they were looking at. All the time I am saying, under my breath, "Nugget still hasn't tried to roll in it, so it must not be dead." Wrong! Without studying it too much as I was instantly bellowing the dogs' least favorite phrase "LEAVE IT!," I am going to guess it was a cat's head, sans skin. I ended up grabbing some baling twine and running back to grab the two older, and least cooperative, and leash them and bring them into the field. Of course I could not get them away from the section of fence that was closest to this wonderful prize they had discovered, so did my chores and re-roped the older dogs and led them back to the house. It was too early in the morning to go out and examine this mass of pink and white yuk, so I made a note to check it out after I was a bit more awake and my stomach a bit more settled. It was somewhat round in shape and a bit bigger than a tennis ball, but smaller than a soft ball. We have eagles nesting around us, as well as coyotes, and owls. Any of them could have done the deed. There was a LOT of bird poo in that area of the field, so I was leaning toward eagle or owl. When I went out later the thing was gone, but there were a lot of small bird bits and pieces that I likely had not noticed before. Did I think to look up? Of course not. I haven't even done it yet today, but will on the next trip out. I suspect there is a nest very close by, as this morning when I went out there were a pair of eagles flying directly over us as we approached the barn. They were screaming, and I was a bit freaked about my dogs, even though the smallest is close to thirty pounds. (One never knows if a near sighted eagle night make an attempt, and I can only imagine the damage that can be done by those talons!) Nugget is incredibly obedient and was the only one off leash, so I called him to me and he stuck there like glue. The crazy dog lady of Kingston, was yelling up into the air and raising her fist at these two eagles circling overhead. They must have gotten the message as they quickly flew off; perhaps on to their next hunting expedition.

So the dogs are back on leash when we go out to do chores. Most of the time I really enjoy seeing the eagles; they really are stunning to see with their blue black backs and the bright white heads and tails. Some days, however, I would just rather they stayed down at the tide flats and fished.

Welcome to my world...ewwwwwwww

G2